Hawaii | Page 127 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 1, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Smith and Jones Myth

The US has a legal immigration system; you do not have to sneak across the border illegally to enter the US. Being a permanent resident is a “privilege” and not a “right.” (US Citizenship and Immigration Services – uscis-gov)

Permanent immigrant residents are expected to respect and be loyal to the United States and to obey our country’s laws. Being a permanent resident also means that there are new rights and responsibilities. (US Citizenship and Immigration Services – uscis-gov)

In the 1800s, rising political instability, economic distress, and religious persecution plagued Europe, fueling the largest mass human migration in the history of the world.

Prior to 1890, individual states, rather than the Federal Government, regulated immigration into the United States. Castle Garden (now Castle Clinton), located in the Battery of Manhattan, served as the New York State immigration station from 1855 to 1890.

Around 1890, it became apparent that Castle Garden was ill-equipped and unprepared to handle the mass influx, leading the Federal government to construct a new immigration station on Ellis Island. During construction, the Barge Office in the Battery was used for immigrant processing.

The new structure on Ellis Island began receiving arriving immigrants on January 1, 1892. Annie Moore, a teenage girl from Ireland, accompanied by her two younger brothers, made history as the very first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island.

If an immigrant’s papers were in order and they were in reasonably good health, the Ellis Island inspection process lasted 3 to 5 hours. The inspections took place in the Registry Room (Great Hall) where doctors would briefly scan every individual for obvious physical ailments.

Doctors at Ellis Island soon became very adept at conducting these “six second physicals.” By 1916, it was said that a doctor could identify numerous medical conditions (ranging from anemia to trachoma) by simply glancing at a person.

Most immigrants entered the United States through New York Harbor, although there were other ports of entry in cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, and New Orleans. (Ellis Island Foundation)

Between 1892 and 1954, over twelve million people entered the United States through the immigration inspection station at Ellis Island, a small island located in the upper bay off the New Jersey coast.

There is a myth that persists in the field of genealogy, or more accurately, in family lore, that family names were changed there.

The legend goes that officials at Ellis Island, unfamiliar with the many languages and nationalities of the people arriving at Ellis Island, would change the names of those immigrants that sounded foreign, or unusual.

No one’s family name was changed, altered, shortened, butchered, or “written down wrong” at Ellis Island or any American port. That idea is an urban legend. (American Library Association)

“Nearly all … name change stories are false. Names were not changed at Ellis Island. The proof is found when one considers that inspectors never wrote down the names of incoming immigrants.”

“The only list of names came from the manifests of steamships, filled out by ship officials in Europe. In the era before visas, there was no official record of entering immigrants except those manifests.”

“When immigrants reached the end of the line in the Great Hall, they stood before an immigration clerk with the huge manifest opened in front of him. The clerk then proceeded, usually through interpreters, to ask questions based on those found in the manifests. Their goal was to make sure that the answers matched.” (Vincent J Cannato, NY Public Library)

Inspectors did not create records of immigration; rather they checked the names of the people moving through Ellis Island against those recorded in the ship’s passenger list, or manifest.

The ship’s manifest was created by employees of the steamship companies that brought the immigrants to the US, before the voyage took place, when the passenger bought their ticket. The manifest was presented to the officials at Ellis Island when the ship arrived. If anything, Ellis Island officials were known to correct mistakes in passenger lists. (NY Public Library)

Many names did get changed as immigrants settled into their new American lives, but those changes were made several years after arrival and were done by choice of someone in the family. (American Library Association)

Surnames, then, become one measure of immigration to the US, though you sometimes have to look beneath the surface for what they’re saying. For example, many German immigrants changed Schmidt to Smith or Müller to Miller upon arrival on American soil – or in response to anti-German sentiment surrounding World War I. (Ancestry)

As mass migration began growing, immigration laws started changing. Contract laborers were allowed admittance in 1864, but barred in 1885, according to the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

In 1875, prostitutes and convicts were barred entry, and in 1882, those convicted of political offenses, lunatics, idiots, and persons likely to become public charges were prohibited. Polygamists and political radicals were added to the no-go list in 1903. (Smithsonian)

In the Islands, by the middle of the 19th century the Hawaiian population had declined drastically through the impacts of disease and epidemics and the dispersal of the young men of the Kingdom on whaling ships and seeking their fortunes in the California gold fields.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese 1852; Japanese 1885 and Filipinos 1905; several smaller, but substantial, migrations also occurred: Portuguese 1877; Norwegians 1880; Germans 1881; Puerto Ricans 1900; Koreans 1902 and Spanish 1907.

“Hawai‘i is America in a microcosm – a melting pot of many racial and national origins, from which has been produced a common nationality, a common patriotism, a common faith in freedom and in the institutions of America.” (Senator Herbert

Lehman; GPO)

For nearly one hundred years immigrants arriving in Hawaiʻi had their initial processing in the area of the present immigration building at the entrance to Honolulu Harbor.

In the 19th century they came over the channel wharf to be processed at the pavilion and quarters of the Kingdom’s Quarantine and Immigration Depot built in 1879 on what was popularly called Fisherman’s Point.

King Kalākaua, who personally initiated Japanese immigration in a visit to the Emperor, visited the station to greet the initial group of Japanese laborers arriving in 1886. After a hospitable welcome which included entertainment of hula dancers, he invited some of the group to the Palace to display their skill at fencing. (NPS)

The United States government took over immigration matters after annexation and built new structures out over the mud flats (which opened July 4, 1905.)

September 30, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kapaʻakea Spring

It was once a perched water-table pond and spring.

It was originally known as Kumulae Spring (Pond – also Kapaʻakea and later Hausten Spring/Pond) and was reportedly the property of Kamāmalu (sister of Kamehameha IV and V.) She and her brothers loved swimming in the pond; they and others shared food and drinks there.

The spring is the subject of an old legend that tells of a wondrous princess upon whom men’s eyes were forbidden to gaze. The princess loved the waters of the spring and from time to time she would go there at night and bathe. In time, the waters of the spring became known for its healing powers. (Kanahele)

As in much of Oʻahu, geologically, the bedrock is actually reef limestone. Lava from the upslope Sugarloaf covered the limestone and cooled (with a thickness of about 40-feet.) After cooling of the Sugarloaf lava, alluvium and marshy lagoon sediments accumulated atop much of the limestone. A few inches of soil covered the top. (Halliday)

Groundwater flow cut through the limestone forming a karstic drainage system (Karst being a geological formation shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock, such as limestone.) This region, in and around the lower portions of the University of Hawaiʻi, became part of the Mōʻiliʻili Karst. Caverns and perched water-table springs and ponds were exposed at the surface.

The best-known of theses ponds was Kumulae. By the early-1920s, Mr. Hausten purchased and cleared the land, and stocked the pond with koi which interbred with existing fish. The large clear fishpond quickly became a noted attraction.

It was the family’s garden home with beautiful tropical gardens of flora and fauna. Emma McGuire “Ma” Hausten was an avid gardener and planted white ginger, water lilies, plumeria from the South Seas, willow trees, kukui trees, breadfruit and fruit trees as well as Hawaiian herbs and medical plants.

The gardens thrived and people asked if they might use the tropical setting for weddings, luaus and parties. Finally, in the mid-1930s limited private parties were held. (Willows)

Then, ‘tragedy’ happened. In the autumn of 1934, the Hausten pond disappeared without warning, draining in less than 24 hours.

It turns out, construction activities downslope from the King-University intersection struck a master conduit in the underground watered cave system. Water drained out. Upslope, the results of this dewatering were dramatic.

The master conduit was eventually resealed, the cave’s water table temporarily recharged, but the karst was never the same again. There have been several instances of collapses since the dewatering. One instance in 1952 involves the Standard Trading store falling through the ground into the karst below it. Another instance involves the emergence of a large cavern downslope from the King-University intersection.

During World War II, times were tough. An offer was made for the property; but instead of selling, the family decided to serve light lunches and drinks. In 1944, the Willows Restaurant opened as a club by Emma’s daughter, Kathleen Perry, along with husband Al (30-year musical director of Hawaii Calls,) her brothers Allan and Walter McGuire and other family members. Together, they presided over a gracious era of Hawaiian music and hospitality during the late-1940s and 1950s. (Willows)

But after the dewatering, the historic pond was never the same, the continuing drop in the water table especially impacted the Willows Restaurant. The willow trees wilted and the restaurant lost its attractiveness and its customers.

New sinkholes developed. “People living in the vicinity made their way into the caves through holes in their yards and speared fish by the hundreds.” Several houses “lurched” and settled. Sidewalks cracked and water and gas mains ruptured. Some trees sank almost 3-feet. (Halliday)

The spring dried up and a remnant of the pond had to be lined with concrete. A manmade water feature surrounded by rock and plants has been built to recreate the ambience of the old days.

In 1998, the site was sold and restored. The Willows re-opened its doors on the threshold of a new millennium in 1999, after six years of being closed. It closed again in 2018 and is now operated as a venue and event space with catering.

September 29, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maui No Ka Oi

Several have asked about historical information on Lahaina and West Maui. Here is a repeat of something I posted a while ago – its focus is on West Maui.

West Maui was considered a ‘window to the world’ because this area has seen the comings and goings of rival chiefs, kings, missionaries, whalers, government officials, the military, sugar and pineapple plantation owners, early labor immigrants, celebrities and travelers for centuries.

This ‘window’ is a metaphor. As a ‘window to the world,’ the stories of West Maui give a bigger perspective of the world, than we would otherwise have, and helps us to expand our view and broaden our understanding of the world.

History tells us much about a community – what it is and where it has come from. West Maui has a rich history dating back to the times of: Pre-contact Hawaiʻi; Hawaiian Monarchy; American Protestant Missionaries; Whaling industry; Sugar and Pineapple Plantations; and Evolution of the West Maui Community.

Each successive passage of an era has added to the cultural richness of the community. And through the tireless efforts of numerous organizations and individuals in the community, much has been done to preserve the historic character of West Maui town and to restore historic sites.

The island of Maui is divided into twelve moku; Kāʻanapali, Lāhainā, Wailuku, Hāmākuapoko, Hāmākualoa, Koʻolau, Hāna, Kīpahulu, Kaupō, Kahikinui, Honuaʻula and Kula. Two of these, Kāʻanapali and Lāhainā make up West Maui.

Probably there is no portion of our Valley Isle, around which gathers so much historic value as West Maui. It was the former capital and favorite residence of kings and chiefs.

After serving for centuries as Royal Center to ruling chiefs, West Maui was selected by Kamehameha III and his chiefs to be the seat of government; here the first Hawaiian constitution was drafted and the first legislature was convened.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 when two New England ships became the first whaling ships to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands. Over the next two decades, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846, 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai’i.

Although Honolulu was originally the port most favored by the whalers, West Maui often surpassed it in the number of recorded visits, particularly from about 1840 to 1855.

Lāhainā Roads, also called the Lāhainā Roadstead is a channel between the islands of Maui and Lānai (and to a lesser extent, Molokai and Kahoʻolawe) making it a sheltered anchorage.

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between the continent and Japan whaling grounds brought many whaling ships to the Islands. Whalers needed food and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

Between the 1820s and the 1860s, the Lāhainā Roadstead was the principal anchorage of the American Pacific whaling fleet. One reason why so many whalers preferred West Maui to other ports was that by anchoring in a roadstead from half a mile to a mile from shore they could control their crews better than when in a harbor.

Another factor to affect the change, growth and social structure of West Maui was the arrival of the first missionaries in the islands during 1820.

The first missionaries to be established at Lāhainā, the Rev. CS Stewart and the Rev. William Richards, arrived in 1823. They came at the request of Queen Mother Keōpūolani, who moved to live in Lāhainā that year.

The great event of 1823 was the death of Keōpūolani at Lāhainā. Within an hour before “joining the Great Majority” she had been baptized as a Christian, an occurrence which proved a great stimulus to increasing the influence of the missionaries. King Kaumuali’i of Kauai, at his special request, was buried beside Keōpūolani in 1824. (NPS)

In 1831, classes at the new Mission Seminary at Lahainaluna (later known as Lahainaluna (Upper Lahaina)) began. The school was established by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions “to instruct young men of piety and promising talents” (training preachers and teachers.) It is the oldest high school west of the Mississippi River.

Per the requests of the chiefs, the American Protestant missionaries began teaching the makaʻāinana (commoners.) Literacy levels exploded.

From 1820 to 1832, in which Hawaiian literacy grew by 91 percent, the literacy rate on the US continent grew by only 6 percent and did not exceed the 90 percent level until 1902 – three hundred years after the first settlers landed in Jamestown – overall European literacy rates in 1850 had not been much above 50 percent.

Centuries ago, the early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

It was not until 1823 that several members of the West Maui Mission Station began to process sugar from native sugarcanes for their tables. By the 1840s, efforts were underway in West Maui to develop a means for making sugar as a commodity.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for a contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

It is not likely anyone then foresaw the impact this would have on the cultural and social structure of the islands. The sugar industry is at the center of Hawaiʻi’s modern diversity of races and ethnic cultures. Of the nearly 385,000-workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix. Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places.

Pioneer Mill Company was one of the earliest plantations to use a steam tramway for transporting harvested cane from the fields to the mill. Cane from about 1000‐acres was flumed directly to the mill cane carrier with the rest coming to the mill by rail. (The Sugar Cane Train is a remnant of that system.)

In 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the whaling industry.

By 1862, the whaling industry was in a definite and permanent decline. The effect of West Maui was striking. Prosperity ended, prices fell, cattle and crops were a drag on the market, and ship chandleries and retail stores began to wither.

Historically Maui’s second largest industry, pineapple cultivation has also played a large role in forming Maui’s modern day landscape. The pineapple industry began on Maui in 1890 with Dwight D. Baldwin’s Haiku Fruit and Packing Company on the northeast side of the island.

West Maui’s roots in the historic pineapple industry began in 1912, when of Honolua Ranch manager, David Fleming began growing pineapple there; almost overnight the pineapple industry boomed.

The ranch was soon renamed Baldwin Packers; at one time they were the largest producer of private label pineapple and pineapple juice in the nation.

One of the first hotels in West Maui was the Pioneer Hotel – founded in 1901. George Freeland arrived in the Lāhainā roadstead on a ship that had just come from a long voyage through the south seas; he noted a need for a hotel.

It remained the only place for visitors to stay on Maui’s west side until the early-1960s. Tourism exploded; West Maui is a full-fledged tourist destination second only to Waikīkī.

Lāhainā’s Front Street, offering an incredible oceanfront setting, people of diverse cultures, architecture and incredible stories of Hawaiʻi’s past, was recognized as one of the American Planning Association’s 2011 “Great Streets in America.”

The following link is to a larger discussion on West Maui – it was prepared a few years ago, before the fires.

Click HERE to view/download for more information on West Maui’s place in the Islands and world.

To see and read about the many structures that were lost in the Lahaina fire, I encourage you to download an App developed by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation that was put together as a ‘Walking Tour’ through Lahaina (you will see images and information on the pre-fire structures):

https://lahainarestoration.org/lahaina-historic-trail/

The tragic fire in Lahaina destroyed many of the physical structures of the community. Some of the historic buildings may be rebuilt; something else will take the place of others.

But the fires did not take away the memory we share of this area. Do what you can to help those that have been impacted and share your memories of West Maui and Lahaina. Maui No Ka Oi (Maui is the best).

Humpback_Whale-Maui-(Stan_Butler-NOAA)-WC

Olowalu-Petroglyphs

Bathing scene, Lahaina, Maui, watercolor, by James Gay Sawkins-1855

Port-of-Lahaina-Maui-1848

Whale-ships at Lahaina-(vintagehawaii)-1848

Edward_T._Perkins,_Rear_View_of_Lahaina,_1854

Whales from McGregor Point-(cphamrah)

Pioneer Mill

McGregor_Point-Norwegian-Monument

Lahaina_from_offshore_in-1885

Lahaina_Boat_Landing

Lahaina,_West_Maui,_Sandwich_Islands2,_watercolor_and_pencil,_by_James_Gay_Sawkins-1855

Lahaina,_Maui,_c._1831

Lahaina, Front Street 1942

Lahaina Tunnel Dedication (1951)

Lahaina Roads

Lahaina Harbor before harbor perimeter retaining wall built-ca 1940

Lahaina Courthouse-fronting beach-(now Lahaina Small Boat Harbor)

Banyan Tree located in courthouse square in the center of Lahaina

Baldwin Packers Cannery (kapalua)

1837 Map of the Islands; made by students at Lahainaluna School (Mission Houses)

September 27, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Name’s the Same

A toponym is a place name derived from topographical features. I recently read an article by Andrew Crowe who notes that there are several place names in New Zealand (NZ) that are shared in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The following is from that article.

Crowe states that the origin, or origins, of New Zealand Māori are currently thought to lie in the ‘central East Polynesian interaction sphere’ – primarily in the Society and Southern Cook Islands.

This conclusion is supported by studies of the mtDNA variation in local populations of the humanly-transported Pacific rat, and by affinities in language and archaeology.

A survey of place names shared between New Zealand and East Polynesia found by far the majority in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Given that the immediate origin of Māori is generally thought to lie in the ‘central East Polynesian interaction sphere.’

Crowe notes that a substantial number of place names shared between New Zealand and Hawai‘i are not shared with the Society Islands. This suggests a possibility that the high number of names shared between these two regions reflects a degree of contact between them.

Polynesian toponyms – like those worldwide – are either descriptive or commemorative of people, events or other places. To evaluate them in terms of geographical links, we should ideally know why each name was conferred.

Descriptive names, such as ‘one loa’ = ‘one roa’ (‘long beach’), may be independently coined in different places for similar topographic features, but this does not preclude other associations. For example, when the name ‘Long Beach’ is subsequently conferred on a long beach outside California, one may still be able to infer who might have named it.

Here’s another example of the names being the same – Hawai‘i Island – Hawaiki (ancestral homeland of NZ Māori). Or, a place on that island, Hilo – Whiro (NI) & Te Whiro (NI). Or, another place on the other side (also found in other places throughout Hawai‘i), Kailua – Tairua (NI & SI).

Here are some similarly-named Hawai‘i streams: Wailoa – Wairoa; Wailua – Wairua; Waimanu – Waimanu; Waimea – Waimea; Waipi‘o – Waipiko.

Heading to O‘ahu, we find Honolulu (Whangaruru is a harbor on the NZ North Island). On O‘ahu’s windward side has Kailua, He‘eia and Kahana (New Zealand has Te Rua (SI), Hekia (SI) and Tahanga (NI).

O‘ahu’s north shore has Waimea (NZ has Waimea), Laniākea (in NZ there is Rangiātea) and Kawela (Te Wera is a place in NZ). Wai‘anae is across the way, Waikanae is in NZ.

On Maui you will find Mākena (there’s a Mātenga in NZ), Nāpili (Ngāpiri is on NI), Wai‘ānapanapa (NZ has Waikanapanapa), Waiehu and Waine‘e (NZ has Waiehu and Waiheke).

Crowe’s article notes 518 Hawaiian place names that are similar to New Zealand. For the most part, the lists comprise only those landscape features and locations that were of general interest: harbors, channels, reefs, cliffs, beaches, bays, points, islets, caves, peaks, hills, craters, ranges, valleys, plains, rivers, streams, springs, falls, swamps, lakes, districts, villages and marae/heiau.

The islands of Hawai‘i and O‘ahu stand out with higher numbers of similarly-named Māori place names; when compared by land area, the density of shared names on Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Ni‘ihau was found to be comparable with that on the island of Tahiti.

Crowe concludes, for this and other reasons, Hawai‘i deserves to be considered as a potential source of (or to otherwise have been in contact with) New Zealand Māori – despite its immense distance from New Zealand and isolation at European contact.

September 26, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ho‘oipoikamalanai

The Puna district of Kauai is well known for two legendary chiefs, Kawelo and Mō‘īkeha. Kawelo is more closely associated with Wailua and Hanamā‘ulu and Mō‘īkeha is linked to Kapa‘a. Mō‘īkeha is understood to be the grandchild of Maweke, one of the principal genealogical lines from which Hawaiians today trace their ancestry.

Sometime between the eleventh and twelfth centuries marks the arrival of Maweke to the Hawaiian Islands. Mō‘īkeha succeeds his older brother Kumuhonua as ruling chief during the time of Mailikūkahi. Kapa‘a is mentioned in traditions concerning Kawelo (Kaweloleimākua), the mo‘o Kalamainu‘u and the origins of the hīna‘i hīnālea fish, and the story of Lonoikamakahiki.

Mō‘īkeha Kapa‘a was the final home of the legendary chief Mō‘īkeha. Born at Waipi‘o on the island of Hawai‘i, Moʻikeha sailed to Kahiki (Tahiti), the home of his grandfather Maweke, after a disastrous flood. (Cultural Surveys)

Moʻikeha was an aliʻi nui (high chief) from Moa‘ulanuiakea, Tahiti, where he lived with his wife Kapo. They had a child named Laʻamaikahiki. Moʻikeha became infatuated with Luʻukia, the wife of ‘Olopana, but she created some domestic difficulties.

Moʻikeha sailed back to Hawaiʻi with his sisters, Makapuʻu and Makaʻaoa, his two younger brothers, Kumukahi and Haʻehaʻe, his priest Moʻokini, and his prominent men (na kanaka koikoi) – navigators (ho‘okele), favorite priests (kahuna punahele) and his lookouts (kiu nana,) who would spy out land.

After sailing the Island chain, Moʻikeha sailed to Kauai, landing at Wailua. The canoe was brought ashore, and the travelers got off. Meanwhile the locals were gathering in a crowd to go surf-riding at Ka-makaiwa. Among them were the two daughters of the ali‘i nui of Kauai, Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hinauʻu.

Orders were issued that Mo‘ikeha be brought to the house of the two ali‘i women. Mo‘ikeha and his company were sent for and brought in the presence of the king.

The love of these young people being mutual, Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hinauu took Mo‘ikeha to be their husband. Mo‘ikeha became ali‘i nui of Kauai after the death of his father-in-law.

Mo‘ikeha had five children with Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hinauu, all boys. Ho‘oipoikamalanai’s children were Umalehu, Kaialea, Kila; Hinauu’s children were Kekaihawewe and Laukapalala.

Mo‘ikeha worked to make his two wives and five children happy, giving his undivided attention to the bringing up of his boys. He thought no more of Lu‘ukia, but after a while, he began to feel a yearning desire to see his son La‘amaikahiki, his child by his first wife Kapo.

So he called his five sons together and said to them: “I‘m thinking of sending one of you boys to bring your elder brother to Hawai‘i.” His boys became greatly excited, each one shouting: “Let me go! Let me go!!”

When Mo‘ikeha saw there would be much contention among his sons, he devised a test to determine who should be chosen to go to Tahiti. (Kawaharada)

Kila, Moʻikeha’s favorite of three sons by the Kauai chiefess Ho‘oipoikamalanai, was born at Kapaʻa and was said to be the most handsome man on the island. It was Kila who was sent by his father back to Kahiki to slay his old enemies and retrieve a foster son, the high chief La‘amaikahiki. (Kawaharada)

In another legend, Mō‘īkeha sends his son to Tahiti to slay his enemies. Upon reaching Tahiti, Kila meets his father’s aunt, Kanepohihi, in the form of a blind, supernatural rat. He introduces himself, sending his father Mō‘īkeha’s greetings. Kanepohihi asks of Mō‘īkeha, and Kila responds:

I walea ia Kauai
I ka lā hiki ae a pō iho
I ke kee a ka nalu o Makaiwa
I ka hiki mai a ka la maluna
O ke kalukalu o Kewa
O ka wai halau o Wailua
O ka lealea o ka mai o kuu makuahine
O Ho‘oipoikamalanai
O kahi noho no o Kauai a make

He is indulging in ease in Kauai
Where the sun rises and sets again,
Where the surf of Makaiwa curves and bends,
Where the sun comes up over
The kalukalu of Kewa;
The stretched out waters of Wailua,
And the entrancing favors of my mother
Ho‘oipoikamalanai
He will live and die in Kauai
(Fornander IV)

Kamakau’s Version of Mo‘ikeha’s Marriage: Mo‘ikeha married one woman whose name was both Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hina-‘au-lua. Mo‘ikeha’s three children were Ho‘omali‘i, named for the skin of ‘Olopana; Haulani-nui-ai-akea for the eyes of ‘Olopana; and Kila, for Lu‘ukia, the wife of ‘Olopana. (Kamakau; Kawaharada)

Kalakaua’s Version of Mo‘ikeha’s Marriage: Mo‘ikeha married Ho‘oipo after winning the right to do so in a canoe race devised by Puna, the ali‘i of Wailua and the father of Ho‘oipo.

Puna sent a servant with a palaoa (a carved and consecrated whale-tooth) to the island of Ka‘ula (SW of Kauai). Nine suitors raced to the island to be the first to bring the whale-tooth back.

Mo‘ikeha won the race by sailing to Ka‘ula with the help of La‘amaomao, his director of winds, who had a calabash that contained all the winds of Hawai‘i, which he could call forth by chanting their names.

Moʻikeha settled at Kapaʻa Kauai as ruling chief of the island. Mō‘īkeha’s love for Kapa‘a is recalled in the ‘ōlelo no‘eau: Ka lulu o Mō‘īkeha i ka laulā o Kapa‘a “The calm of Mō‘īkeha in the breadth of Kapa‘a ” (Pukui 1983: 157).

The place “Lulu-o-Mō‘īkeha” is described as being situated “near the landing and the school of Waimahanalua”. The landing in Kapa‘a was known as the Makee Landing and was probably constructed in the late 1870s, along with the Makee sugar mill.

Today, in place of the old Makee Landing is part of a breakwater located on the north side of Moikeha Canal, near the present day Coral Reef Hotel. (Cultural Surveys)

Upon his death, Kila, his son, became ruling chief of Kauai. (McGregor) After Moʻikeha’s death, his corpse was taken to the cliffs of Haʻena where it was deposited.